20 August

Spoiler alert: it’s safe to say that Hopeton Overton Brown aka Scientist wins the day and sends those blasted space invaders back the arcade they came from. From the opening rubber band bass on “Beam Down” Scientist’s 1981 classic is virtually untouchable. A protege of King Tubby, Scientist manages to fully come into his own on this long playing record. Drawing source material from some of the best known Linval Thompson productions, Scientist’s dubs are flanged fearlessly, rich in reverb, doused in delay, and slathered in soul. Dubber than dub, this. Ghostly, down-tempo reggae with bass red-lining in the mix. Brown played a huge part in helping to set the stage for the remix culture that would first take root later in the decade. The dub version first crafted by King Tubby and later perfected by Scientist, demonstrate a unique understanding of how to utilize the studio as more than simply a documentary device, instead focusing it as a creative tool which helps to carve out something completely new. Canonical to the nth degree, Meets the Space Invaders, is compulsory listening.